Part III
Weaving Threads
When you died, when you... ascended... He never got over that, you know? It was as though a part of him died with you. He was never the same man after you left.
I
"Like this, yeah. Move your arms and legs, don't stop." Jack loosened his hold on Danny without letting go.
"I... used... to... whoops..." He swallowed water and started spluttering and coughing.
Jack scooped him up and gently clapped the kid's back until he stopped spitting. "No talking, remember? You're a fish. Fish don't talk."
The fish wriggled and giggled. "Lemme down, Jack, lemme down!"
Jack eased him back into the water, hands securely around his middle to keep him steady. "Arms and legs," he ordered.
"I'm a … fish... I have finsssss..." He spluttered again, but didn't cough, just spouted a fountain of water and laughed, which caused him to swallow more.
"Oy, Danny... keep that up and you'll end up with all the ocean in your belly."
More laughter, more spluttering. Jack pulled him out and settled him on his hip again. "You're a babble-fish."
"It's fu-un!"
"Funny you didn't think that yesterday in the showers," Jack said dryly.
"That was yucky. Soap itched and burned." Danny cocked his head. "Do we have to do that again?"
"Not today," Jack said quickly. "You ready to try this again?"
A wild, enthusiastic nod was the answer and a moment later Danny picked up the arms and legs movements again. But he was too excited or too impatient – Jack couldn't tell which – and all he managed was splashing a lot of saltwater all over them in the process.
Squealing and chortling and swallowing more water, Danny almost slippedfrom his grip and went under for a moment. When his head popped up again and Jack asked him if he was okay, he just laughed.
It was early and the beach was deserted except for a couple of gulls stalking around, looking for food. The ocean was warm and cuddly like a kitten, perfect for a morning swim. Danny had been thrilled about the suggestion and couldn't get into the water fast enough. But as soon as it turned out that he couldn't swim he'd been pretty upset and the day had almost started with tears.
"I'll teach you, it's no big deal," Jack had tried to nip the looming outburst in the bud.
Danny had stared at him, tears pooling in the corners of his wide eyes. "You will? Right now?"
The things one did to keep kids happy... "Yeasureyabetcha. You'll know how to do it in no time."
Tears and sorrow forgotten immediately, Danny had been all eager and enthusiastic. Jack had showed him the motions and the kid had nodded and said, "I know how to do it. I just forgot how to do it."
Jack had interpreted that as; someone showed me before but I forgot. Which was a bit strange. He'd always thought once you learned how to swim you never just 'forgot' it. But strange seemed to be this little guy's middle name at times, so he'd just shrugged it off.
So, here they were, trying to make a fish out of Danny. Or to find Danny's inner fish. The water reached Jack's waist, but right now he felt like he was inside a waterfall.
"Whoa, slow down, slow down!" He laughed and slid into the water, pulling Danny into his arms. "Let's try something different, okay? Put your hands on my shoulders. Yeah, like that. Don't let go." Jack slowly turned on his back and let himself float with Danny on top of him, small fingers digging into his shoulders. "Now move your back fins like you're a dolphin. But slowly. Breathe in, move, breathe out. Look at me, yeah, like that."
"In..." Danny kicked his legs. "Out..." He blew warm breath and a bit of spittle into Jack's face.
"Yeah, keep doing that. Slowly. All right. Let the water carry you."
Danny nodded, suddenly very serious and focused. When they reached deeper water, Jack put his hands back around Danny's middle to keep him from going under. "Don't let go. And keep the legs moving."
Jack's feet found the sandy ground and he stood. The water reached his neck now. He started walking backwards. Danny followed, hands still on Jack's shoulders, legs kicking steadily now.
Suddenly his face lit up and he exclaimed. "I remember now, I remember!" He let go of Jack's shoulders and if his hands hadn't been around Danny's middle, the kid would have slipped away like an eel.
"I can swim, I can swim," he screeched with delight.
"Keep it up, you're doing great," Jack praised.
He watched closely to make sure the kid really had the movements coordinated right. Then they pulled back to where the water was less deep and finally Jack let go. At first Danny started paddling like a puppy who'd fallen into a lake, but he regained control of his body quickly. He swam a circle around Jack, he even managed to keep his head out of the water for the most part. Another circle and another and then he took off like a small missile.
Jack quickly caught up, staying close by to be able to grab him should he lose the momentum again. But, apparently, once he'd remembered how to do it, Danny had found his inner fish for good.
Soon he was diving and rolling around in the water like he'd been born there.
Finally Jack settled the fish on his shoulders and waded back to the shore.
"Ohhh, not yet, please," Danny pleaded.
"What, aren't you hungry?"
"Noooo, yeeesss... but I wanna stay in the water, too."
"Hmmm, then you'll have raw fish for breakfast. 'Cause it's the only thing you can eat if you want to stay in the water. Or seaweed and shells."
"Eeeww!"
"There ya go." He started jogging across the sand and through the dunes until they reached Viktor's booth, which was now their booth for the time being. Jack put Danny on his feet and snatched the towel from where it had hung on the door handle.
"What are we gonna do today, Jack?" Danny asked while Jack dried him off.
"First breakfast. Then you need some clothes, I guess. We'll go back to Masala and see if we can find something your size."
"Are you going to leave me there?" Danny asked quietly.
Jack gave the blond head a last quick rub and then used the towel for himself even though it was already pretty damp. He'd been thinking about leaving Danny with Masala for a couple of hours. He'd been thinking about trying to find someone to take the kid in for good, too. But he didn't know anyone who'd welcome another mouth to feed just like that. Even though Danny was an amicable little guy and seemed to wrap everyone around his little finger. Including Jack's potential customers.
"Jack?" Danny's timid voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
Aw, what the heck... "I can't leave you there. We've got work to do. I need my best barker with me at the beach."
"Yes, you do!" Danny beamed at him, relief all over his face.
Jack suppressed a sigh and forced out a grin. He knew, the longer he let this go on, the harder it would be for both of them to say goodbye.
It's just until I find a permanent solution, he told himself. I can't just dump him on someone like that.
Once they were both dressed Jack locked the booth and they took off to the Lance. They hiked down the cobbled boardwalk with the ocean to their left and the hotels on the right. Groomed hedges and palm trees framed the driveways and gardens. There weren't any tourists underway this time of day. Just mule wagons laden with deliveries for the hotels.
At first Jack held Danny's hand, but once they'd left the traffic behind and it was mostly just the two of them he let the kid skip ahead a bit. Danny hopped from one foot to the other, his orange sun cap bouncing on his head.
They left the last hotel behind and passed by a couple of fancy restaurants before the boardwalk turned into the market road leading to the heart of Ba'th with its many shops and more restaurants.
To their left was the Lance Beach now, taking a wide curve where the Lance itself jutted into the water. Remembering the bug's tendency to wander off, Jack cajoled Danny to ride on his shoulders once they entered the town's busy streets.
"This is even better than Thor," Danny decided once he was up there. He playfully tugged at Jack's hair. "You can be my mule now."
"Yesterday I was a squire, today I'm a mule," Jack complained. "Somehow I feel downgraded."
"Ohhh, can we see Mania today? Can we?" Danny bounced up and down and Jack grabbed his legs to keep him from toppling over.
"Whoa! Stop that. Be gentle with your mule or it might buck ya off."
"Sorry, Jack, but can we see Mania?"
"I don't know what she's up to today, but we have to give her back the princess crown so we'll look out for her."
Jack stopped at a felafel booth and bought a large portion. Danny sniffed approvingly and bent over Jack's shoulder to have a better look.
"Aaaht! Stay upright. You can have some in a minute."
"What is it? It smells good!"
"It's felafel in bread."
"Oh! I had that when I was a kid," Danny exclaimed. "In Egypt."
"When you were a kid," Jack said dryly. "Of course that probably was about a hundred years ago, eh?"
"Thirty years or so," Danny said lightly.
Little kids and numbers... a million or a dozen, didn't make much difference to them. They reached a bench with view on the Lance beach and Jack placed the food bag on it before he put Danny on his feet.
"Remember to be careful, it's hot," he warned when they sat down.
Danny patiently waited for him to blow over the fried little balls.
"There's chick peas in felafel and beans and garlic and onions." The kid sniggered. "It gives you gas if you eat too many, yanno."
"Oh, yeah. Lots of gas. Here, dig in."
They ate the felafel with their fingers, dipping them into the creamy, mildly spiced, red sauce at the bottom of the hollow pita bread. There were slices of tomato, too, and Jack helped Danny fish them out of the bread without making a mess.
"Yummy," Danny exclaimed. "It's funny. I never cared much for food before. I really like it now. Prob'ly 'cuz I missed eating it." He patted his belly.
Jack looked down his nose at the urchin. There it was again – before. Before what? And did he want to know?
Nope, probably not.
Like a dark cloud moving in front of the sun, last night's nightmare came back to him and he suppressed a shudder. He'd seen those eyes before. The eyes of the man Danny had become. Had seen those eyes boring into him exactly like he'd dreamed it. He remembered the haunted look in them, the sadness, the regret.
Daniel's eyes. The thought was suddenly there, sticking out like that black monolith at the ruins. Those were Daniel's eyes.
Daniel.
Danny.
He closed his fist hard around the paper bag, squishing the remainder of the bread between clenching fingers.
"Jack?"
He forced his body to relax and opened his hand, grimacing at the mush of paper, bread, sauce and what used to be a tomato slice all over his palm and fingers. Danny clambered to his knees and then stood on the bench beside Jack. He reached out a small hand and Jack quickly grabbed it with his own; the one that wasn't covered in gooey food.
"Don't."
"You need to remember," Danny said softly.
"We need to get going," Jack said stiffly and stood.
"Can you carry me, please?" Innocent blue eyes gazed at him.
"No more with the touching stuff," Jack warned, voice gruff and foreign in his own ears. "Whatever you're doing when you're doing what... you're doing. Just - don't."
"But you were remembering something. I could feel it," Danny insisted. "What was it?"
"I remembered we have to buy you clothes, that's all," Jack said. He clumsily extracted a not overly clean wad of paper tissues from his pants and wiped the goo from his hand, then tossed them into the trashcan next to the bench. Using the wonderful magic of distraction he settled Danny on his hip and asked, "What's your favorite color?"
"Ohhh. I love alllll colors, 'cept of black, but that's no real color."
"So what kind of shirt do you want? Blue? Red? Peridot?"
Danny laughed. "Peridot! That's your favorite color."
"Yeah? How'd you know?"
"Orange," Danny said instead of an answer. "I want my shirt to match my cap. And orange is real bright and fun!"
"Orange it is."
"Pumpkin-orange or sunset-orange or orange-orange or poppy-orange... what other things are orange, Jack?"
Ahhh, yes, distraction. Great tactic.
"Orange juice, carrots and some butterflies are orange, too," Jack said. "What about your pants? Any favorite color for them?"
"Green," came the quick reply.
"Green like the grass? Or like peas? Olive-green? Moss-green?"
"BDU green," Danny said.
"Huh?"
"Like your pants." Danny pointed down at Jack's ratty green pants. The ones he should get rid off because they were really falling apart.
"Oh-kay. Let's see if we can dress you up."
ooo
An hour later Jack's new sidekick was dressed in a pumpkin-colored t-shirt matching his sun cap and olive-green pants. Masala had given them a special price, which was helpful. Jack had offered to buy Danny shoes, but that had been frowned upon and so he hadn't bothered to push it. Shoes were expensive after all and little kids grew out of them too quickly anyway. They might have to purchase shoes when winter came, though.
If Danny was still with him then.
Crap, that was a weird thought. Because if Danny was still with him then Jack was probably stuck with him for good.
He'd better save up some more money.
For now they were content with underwear, shirt and pants. Masala had crooned and smiled, telling Danny what a pretty little man he was. Danny had informed her he didn't want to be pretty, he wanted to be cool. Like Jack. Pretty was for girls.
So Danny was looking all cool and manly now. Pumpkin-color-cool.
They left the bazaar and took a detour to the Lance where Jack bought two large bottles of drinking water, a loaf of bread and a summer sausage at a local store.
"What's a summer sausage? Does it only taste good in summer?" Danny asked as they were heading back to the beach.
"It's a sausage that won't turn bad even if you don't keep it at a cool place," Jack explained. "It's smoked beef and it'll be good for a long time."
Satisfied with that, Danny – who was riding on Jack's shoulders again – turned his attention to other things like how blue the ocean was and how he loved the sunshine and the beach and that he used to live in a desert with lots and lots and LOTS of sand but no ocean.
Jack found himself smiling and nodding his head and generally enjoying the sunshine, the blue ocean and the chatter.
They returned to the booth where Jack tied his bundles and blankets together. Danny wanted to help so Jack let him carry all those necklaces again and they went to find a good place by the promenade.
They were out early today and took their time setting everything up for their beach sale.
Tourists with little kids usually came out in the morning, either because the kids whined loud enough about wanting to go to the beach or because parents wanted to claim the best sun lounges for the day. So it didn't take long before families passed by and kids were pleading for, or demanding, souvenirs. The girls wanted necklaces, the boys went for the small clay animals. The mamas and dadas rolled their eyes, trying to drag their kids away, promising to buy something later.
Jack did his usual, 'We'll only have these lovely figurines for low prices this morning' and 'Everything has to go – no guarantee there'll be anything left later' thing. Danny let the girls touch the necklaces he was wearing and made puppy dog eyes at the mamas, telling them their daughters would look soooo pretty with one of them. Mamas' hearts melted and necklaces or clay figures were handed out to several families.
And so it began.
Danny was good. Jack had to give him that. He did his little jiggly-jig and yelling out to people, waving his arms and cajoling them into coming over to take a look. But he never got too intrusive, never too brash. He was all smiles and bounces and gentleman-like.
And they all loved him. It was almost as if the kid had been doing this all his life. Talking people into buying stuff, flirting with the audience in a natural, innocent way. Like yesterday, Jack felt a bit enchanted – and he'd bet he wasn't the only one.
Feeling he had to add his own bit of keeping the crowd interested Jack started juggling a set of small beach tennis balls that were on sale. He didn't have many of them left, just four or five, but that was enough to put on a show and soon one ball after another went to a new owner.
Around noon the trickle of tourists passing by on their way to the beach had come to a halt and Danny had exhausted himself enough to lay curled up on the blanket next to Jack, thumb firmly in mouth, and sound asleep.
Jack counted his money and let out a low whistle. This wasn't bad. Not bad at all for the time of year. He decided to go to the barn tomorrow to make a last batch of new clay figures and bowls. The hotels would close in two weeks, but if he came back here every day they could sell enough stuff to...
"You are a man of many professions, aren't you?"
Jack squinted up against the sun and was presented with long legs in black shorts and a white sleeveless shirt. "You stalking me or something?"
A green rolled-up towel was waved at him. "I wanted to take a swim. My hotel is right over there." A thumb pointed back over a well-tanned shoulder.
"Won't that ruin your hair?" The Mohawk was neon blue today. What the hell did the guy use to dye his hair?
Mohawk shrugged. "It's easily mended."
They exchanged an assessing look and Jack pulled his shades from the top of his head to cover his eyes from the sunlight. Or to hide whatever Mohawk might see in them. After a moment he asked, "You wanna buy a necklace? Or a clay figure? I've got some jugs too, there."
"Did you make these?" Mohawk bent and picked up a carafe. There was a youthful sparkle in his gray eyes. And Jack could smell some expensive soap on him. Something like lemon and herbs.
"Yep. All hand crafted, each one unique."
"This is nice work. Is there anything you can't do?" Mohawk gave him a teasing grin.
Wanna find out? "You want to buy it or not?"
"Not now. I was going to swim, remember? And no one's with me to keep an eye on this if I leave it on my sun lounge."
"Too bad. I'll be here for a while though," Jack said.
"Is that an offer to..." Mohawk trailed off and raised his eyebrows. "Hey, who's your small friend?"
Putting a gentle hand on Danny's back, Jack said, "My new working partner."
Mohawk nodded as if it was a total normal thing to have a working partner this small. "Is he your..."
"No. He's..." Jack pursed his lips, not sure what to say. Finally he went with, "He fell from the sky. Now he's with me." If Mohawk thought that was weird, Jack didn't care.
"Interesting," was all the other man said. Then he abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know a good drinking place? Not the fancy, boring places. Something more down to earth. Where the locals go."
"The upper class locals or lowly locals like me?" Jack asked with a smirk.
"I like lowly," Mohawk said, straight-faced. "Lowly is good."
"A tourist in a local bar, eh? Should be interesting."
"Are you going to give me directions or do I have to search the whole Lance for you?"
That somewhat direct approach almost blindsided Jack. Just almost. He was grateful for the sun glasses. "Thought you were just looking for a place to drink."
"Is that you telling me I have to drink on my own?"...
"Is that you telling me to fuck off and never mention it again?"...
...Jack felt his whole body go rigid at the voice from the past lancing his mind. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a second and quickly busied himself with adjusting the sun cap on Danny's head. His throat had gone dry and his hands wanted to tremble, but he refused to give in to that.
He said lightly, "There're drinking holes at the Lance, by the water. Not the beach side."
"That's... vague," Mohawk said, cocking his head to the left and giving Jack a curious look.
"Yep."
"Right. I'll..." He waved at the rolling sea in the distance behind Jack.
"Have fun," Jack said, smiling.
He let Mohawk walk away and waited until he heard the man's sandals slapping on the wooden planks leading down to the water. Then, without turning his head, he called after him. "Ask for The Lance Fountain."